In piglet rearing, several problems may and do occur. One is the lack of enough teats to accommodate the entire litter; a second is the fact that the milk quality differs markedly between teats, the front teats having a better quality. The litter quickly establishes an internal hierarchy leaving the lower-quality sow's milk to the weaker piglets. This can be detrimental to weak piglets, resulting in high piglet mortality.
Farmers have sought many solutions to aiding the weaker piglets including the use of a nursing sow.
However, it is usually not all the piglets which survive even if they have been transferred to a nursing sow. This may be due to the fact that it is not always for practical reasons to move the piglets to the nursing sow soon after birth or maybe the inability of the newborn piglet to fight the other piglets for a teat affects the piglet psychologically.
The importance of antibodies in the diet given to newborn piglets is well known, see e.g. Gomez GG, (1998), J. Anim. Sci, 76, 1-7.
Leskanich C O and Noble R C, (1999), British Journal of Nutrition, 81, 87-106 discloses the comparative roles of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pig neonatal development.
Klobasa F et al., (1987), J Anim Sci, 64(5), 1458-66 discloses the composition of sow milk during lactation.
Csapó, J-M et al., (1996), International Dairy Journal, 6, 881-902 discloses protein, fats, vitamin and mineral concentrations in porcine colostrum and milk from parturition to 60 days.
For commercial farming the price of such solutions generally needs to be rather low because it affects the profit margin of the pig. Thus there is a constant need for compositions which are suitable as feed and/or fodder compositions.